Ansin: $55 Mil. investment means
Monarch back on track by November
Tom
Duggan
 In an exclusive
interview on WCAP radio (980AM) in
Lowell, multi-millionaire developer Bob
Ansin announced for the first time that
he has secured a $55 million investment
for his Monarch on the Merrimack project
after a ten month shut down caused by a bogus story in the
Eagle~Tribune claiming one of
their reporters witnessed “men in
tyvek suits” removing asbestos from
the building.
“I’m not the kind of guy who
holds a grudge,” Ansin said, adding
that as far as he’s concerned the
bogus Trib story is in the past. “But
it’s been a rough ten months,”
he admits. “We had to lay everyone
off and stop construction until we could
find another investor who would not be
influenced by the story.”
The Monarch project, called ‘a city
within a city’ is located on
Merrimack St. in Lawrence in the old Wood
Mill building, once considered the
longest building in the world.
After spending more than 4 million out of
pocket for the building, and sinking
millions more into construction and
rehab, Ansin’s $200 million project
was well under way last October with more
than a dozen people putting a down
deposit on luxury penthouse lofts and a
California bank committing more than $40
million more to help Ansin begin phase
two of the project.
According to Ansin, phase two would have
included finishing the luxury penthouse
lofts and renovating the rest of the mill
to sustain local businesses, office
space, a movie theater, a bowling alley,
night clubs and retail stores.
Ansin hired local contractors from
Lawrence, Andover, Methuen and
surrounding communities to do the work on
Monarch. Local people he says bore the
brunt of the ten month shutdown. “I
felt so bad,” he recalled. “All
of these local workers have been out of
work since the shutdown. I’m just
thrilled to be able to announce that we
will be back on track within 90 days and
people can start moving into Monarch by
January.”
Lawrence Mayor Mike Sullivan said Ansin’s
announcement was “very good news for
the city.”
“I never doubted for one minute that
Bob Ansin was going to find a way to get
this project back up and running. I know
Bob, and I know what happened last year
was a terrible injustice to him and
everyone who worked at Monarch.
Now, the project will start back up
and you will start to see tremendous
progress in a very short period of time.
Bob Ansin is more committed to this city
than just about anyone I have every met
and Lawrence is very lucky Bob didn’t
just thrown his hands up and give up on
the city like so many others have over
the years.”
Ansin also announced that, although he
and Sal Lupoli of Sal’s Riverwalk
(Sal’s Pizza) are not partners (as
previously reported in another
newspaper), Lupoli has purchased one
third of the Monarch building paying more
than $6 million for business development
within the mill. “It’s like
buying a condo within a housing complex,
you are not buying the building itself,
but the space inside the building,”
Ansin explained.
“So, when you consider that I paid a
little over 4 million for the entire
building, sold a third of the building
for more than $6 million to Sal, and with
the $55 million commitment we now have
from the bank I am happy to say that
Monarch on the Mrrimack is going to be a
reality after all.”
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